Paul Seixas suffers Dauphiné setback with heavy crash on stage 7
Paul Seixas' Dauphiné challenge was put in doubt after he suffered a crash a little over 30km into stage 7 on Saturday. The Frenchman found himself some 3:30 off the pace as he began his pursuit of the peloton but he latched back on ahead of the day's final two climbs.
Paul Seixas crashed a little over 30km into the pivotal stage 7 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes on Saturday.
The Frenchman was stopped at the roadside for some time before he remounted, and he was some 3:30 behind the peloton when he resumed racing. He was joined by two Decathlon CMA CGM teammates to aid his pursuit of the bunch.
The incident took place not long after the stage had been briefly neutralised due to gravel on the descent of the Côte de Saint-Maurice-de-Rotherens. The race resumed in earnest at the 30km point, and Seixas’ crash took place shortly afterwards.
Stage 7 of the rebranded Dauphiné is an arduous one, with a summit finish atop the hors categorie Grand Colombier.
Seixas began the day in seventh place overall, 3:06 down on overall leader Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), and he had vowed to go on the offensive on the demanding final weekend of the race.
Seixas' deficit briefly nudged out above four minutes, but Decathlon sent riders back in instalments to help him close the gap, with Stefan Bissegger, Daan Hoole, Aurelien Paret-Peintre and then Nicolas Prodhomme dropping back to pace their leader.
Although Visma and UAE Team Emirates-XRG were setting the tempo in the yellow jersey group, Seixas began to close the gap in earnest on the category 1 ascent of the Lacets du Grand Colombier. He would rejoin the yellow jersey group with 37km to go, just ahead of the Col de Richemond.
Make us your preferred source on Google
Stay closer than ever to the latest cycling news, interviews and analysis. Simply selecting Domestique as a Preferred Source can really help us grow, while making sure you see more of our stories in your news overview.
